In the area of motor vehicles, it is known to keep equipment boxes or tool boxes in a space-saving manner in the area of a spare wheel or a spare-wheel well. In such cases, the shape of such tool boxes is often adapted to the geometry of the spare wheel or the spare-wheel well to allow it to be placed in an exactly fitting and space-saving manner. The handling of a tool box with lids, handles or grips, closures, etc., is also adapted to this particular installation situation to enable a user to remove, put away and use the tool box as easily as possible.
For example, DE 39 045 38 A1 discloses a hinged tool box which consists of two shell halves that are connected to one another by way of a hinge. Altogether, this produces a tool box with the shape of a semicircle. This semicircular shape is adapted to the spare-wheel compartment of a motor vehicle, so that the tool box can be put away in an exactly fitting manner in a spare-wheel compartment. DE 41 036 52 A1 on the other hand discloses an on-board tool box for keeping in the nave of the rim of the spare wheel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,279 also discloses a tool box that can be stored in a spare-wheel well.
At the same time, not only tool boxes with on-board tools but also tire repair kits can be kept in this way. For example, it may be provided that a motor vehicle is equipped with a tire repair kit instead of a spare wheel. The loading area in the trunk of a motor vehicle is however often reinforced and supported by a spare wheel put away in it. If, instead, a tire repair kit is put away in the spare-wheel well, other components must be provided for such support.
Usually, boxes that can be put away in the spare-wheel well in an exactly fitting manner are used for this. Along with equipment for repairing a tire, towing hooks and/or funnels for filling with fuel may be kept in such boxes, so that they are referred to generally as equipment boxes. Expanded polypropylene (EPP) is used for example as the material for such equipment boxes.
However, one problem with such equipment boxes is caused by their dimensions, required for fitting a box exactly in a spare-wheel well. To reinforce the loading area sufficiently, such equipment boxes typically fill the spare-wheel well completely. This has the effect however that it is only with difficulty that the equipment boxes can be removed from the spare-wheel well when they are to be used outside the vehicle, or a user would like to use the spare-wheel well as additional storage space for keeping other items. Such equipment boxes are heavy, large and unwieldy.
In view of the prior art identified, the area of the equipment boxes in spare-wheel wells of motor vehicles therefore leaves scope for improvements to be made.